The Hindu Business Line : Kalam sees scope for auto sector growth

The automobile industry in India accounts for a business volume of $45 billion and has the potential to grow much faster both through Indian as well as international manufacturers who have established huge facilities in the country.

"We have to aspire to work towards increasing the business volume to $200 billion by 2016 with an export component of at least $50 billion,'' said the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, speaking at the Symposium of International Automotive Technology 2007.

He said one of the major concerns today is that the automotive business consumes $35 billion in foreign exchange for procurement of crude oil. "There are two problems associated with this nationally and internationally. It contributes to environment pollution in large scale through CO2 emission, apart from the imported cost.'' He noted that both these problems had to be addressed and research focus had to be on developing alternative fuels.

He pointed out that automobile researchers are continuously working on increasing the specific power output and reducing the fuel consumption and emissions. He pointed out that while it is important, to continuously improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines, scientists have to concentrate on development of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources. The future generation cars and trucks have to use bio-diesel, ethanol and hydrogen. Mr Kalam noted that while Indian automobile industry is growing at 17 per cent, there was a growing concern in the increase in number of accidents taking place on the roads. As per the WHO report, each year road traffic accidents took away lives of 1.2 million people. India accounts for about 10 per cent of road accident fatalities worldwide.

Also, as per a survey, India loses around Rs 55,000 crore annually due to the road traffic accidents.

He said Indian cars are already using seat-belts and collapsible steering column as standard features and commercial vehicles are using anti-skid breaking system. Research is also required to design electronic stability control for safe driving under adverse climatic conditions like during snow, rain and fog.

Research in advanced materials and manufacturing will be an important area for Indian automobile industry. It will have to aim at lower weight, lower investment, higher life, low maintenance and lower life cycle cost. Currently, Indian designs are mostly using metals for the chassis and the body. Researchers have to work on fibre reinforced composites, which will have better impact characteristics and also eventually it should become cost-effective for consumers.

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